Site Update: July 2013

It has now been six months since our last site update and there has been a lot happening here at Listverse. Below you can find out about our latest goings on as well as learn about our future plans (which, I can assure you, are very exciting). There is also an opportunity for someone to help out (and get paid!)

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Mobile

We’ll get straight to it with mobile apps because they are on everyone’s lips right now! Currently 45% of Listverse readers are looking at the site on a mobile device (phone or tablet). This has also meant we are now getting regular requests for mobile apps. So I am very thrilled to announce that we are about to start phase I of our mobile strategy: iOS on iPhone. We expect to have an iPhone app available within three to four months. As soon as that app is available we will be starting on the next phase which will be Android devices. And after that comes iPad. Our design guys are already working on their new concepts. If you wish, you can mention some features you would like to see in the comments, but to prevent repetition I will tell you that it will definitely have the ability to takes lists off-line for reading when you don’t have the Internet.

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Multiple Pages

As some of you probably noticed, we recently tried out multiple-page articles. The motivation behind this was, in part, to help fund the mobile development strategy. Due to a rather large and vocal group of people we have reverted to single page posts. Funding of the app will come from other sources and you can rest assured that we will continue to use single page posts.

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New Editors

Welcome to our three new editors (who are joining our current Editor Matt Hayes). We are pleased to have Micah Duke, Kier Harris, and Josh Sargent on-board helping us out. They are working incredibly hard to get our content up to a high and consistent standard. We will eventually place blurbs for them on the about page so you can read more about them and see who they are. And that brings us to the opportunity to help out:

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Chief Editor

We are currently considering taking on a part-time person in the role of chief editor. The job involves selecting from the submissions lists which are good enough to publish here and then verifying sources and checking for plagiarism. It also involves fielding questions and comments from the editors and liaising with me daily on the state of things. And finally it requires going over all lists before they go live on the site to catch any missed errors. To do this job you will need to have English of a very high standard (better than the average native speaker), good communication skills, and—most importantly—a very good knowledge of the majority of lists on Listverse. In other words, someone who has been a reader since the start would be ideally suited in that regard. If you are interested and meet the criteria above, please email a full resume and CV to [email protected].

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Submissions and Payments

I have recently been working incredibly hard to produce a backend database for submissions and payments. It is now mostly complete and all new lists are being sent to the database which allows me to automate the tasks of plagiarism checking, posting and scheduling to Listverse, and managing editing schedules. This has fortunately freed up some time for me and allows me to better understand the statistics of lists we are sent. Because of our new plagiarism testing scheme and our editor’s sharp eyes, we are switching payments to weekly rather than immediately upon acceptance. This is to allow us to reject a list if we discover plagiarism or facts not backed by sources. In terms of what you see on the site this should mean a higher standard of fact checking.

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Social Media

If you are not already a fan of Listverse on Facebook go and “like” us right now! We often post questions or polls there to help us gauge the opinions of our readers and the more regulars there the better. You can also use our Facebook page to contact us (if you prefer not to email) and interact with other Listverse regulars. We are currently looking into the possibility of running some competitions through the page.

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Listverse Books

You do know we have three published books you can buy right now correct? You can find them here. In addition to our three books we are close to signing a deal on a fourth book which will be The Ultimate Book of Top 10 Lists: Volume 2. We are very excited about this as it will be our first book in two years. The original books are selling well in bookstores all around the world and no doubt some of you reading here today found us because of them. In the next edition all authors will be listed by name along-side their list.

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Redesign

When we launched our redesign we posted a welcome article. Since then we have all had plenty of time to get used to it. Please feel free to let us know via the comments how you are finding the site now that it has been live for three months. Does everything run as smoothly as you would like it to? If there something we could add to make it even better? We want your opinions so get commenting!

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Lists

We love lists, we can’t get enough of them. So do you—that’s why you’re here! We are getting some amazing submissions these days but because we publish only three a day we can’t accept some that we think you would like. Recently we started trialling four lists occasionally. How many lists would you read per day if we published more? Does your day permit you time to read only three? Could you cope with five? Six? Let us know in the comments.

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Thanks

Finally I just want to say thanks for your patience of late while I have been so busy tied up with the backend code for the submissions. I am hoping to get some spare time soon to write a list of my own so keep your eyes peeled for that. I also want to thank the moderators who have been working overtime to handle the increase in trolling of late. Their efforts are appreciated not just by me but everyone here I am sure you will agree. Listverse turned six three days ago. It has been an amazing six years. Thanks to everyone for sticking with us and sharing us with your friends.

Jamie is the owner and chief-editor of Listverse. He spends his time working on the site, doing research for new lists, and collecting oddities. He is fascinated with all things historic, creepy, and bizarre.